OSLO, Norway (AP) — The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to promote peace and democracy in Europe – an award given even though the bloc is struggling with its biggest crisis since it was created in the 1950s.

Arianna Huffington: Afghanistan: Our Longest and Least Talked About WarIn the last month, the United States hit three milestones in the war in Afghanistan. In late September, the 33,000 additional soldiers that President Obama ordered to Afghanistan in late 2009 came home. The number of U.S. soldiers killed reached 2,000. And this past Sunday marked the 11th anniversary of the longest war in American history. But the war has barely come up during a campaign that already seems interminable. Even though our presence in Afghanistan is a big drain on America's budget, in the first presidential debate last week the word came up exactly once. Will it come up in the vice-presidential debate tonight? It will of course come up on October 22nd, when the presidential debate is devoted to foreign policy. But there most likely won't be any actual debate. Because the one milestone the U.S. has not yet hit is the answer to the question: Why on earth are we still there?

Simonetta Moro: Coming Out in a Society That Would Rather You Didn'tThrough my LGBT-rights activism I frequently come across people who ask me, in good faith, what use there is in coming out of the closet, especially to work colleagues. They are baffled by the idea of connecting the individual sphere of their sexuality with their professional life.

Robert Walker: Malala and the First International Day of the GirlLeaders from around the world today will talk about the vital importance of girls' right to education, but all the words in the world will not speak louder than the grim tragedy that has befallen Malala, the 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban.